婿 meaning and stroke order
Son-in-law; husband
How to write 婿, stroke by stroke
12 strokes in order. Each box adds the next stroke in red. Write top to bottom and left to right, and finish enclosing strokes last.
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Meaning of 婿
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- son-in-law
- husband
- variant of 婿[xu4]
How 婿 is built
Phono-semantic (sound + meaning) character. Woman.
女 gives the meaning and 胥 hints at the sound.
Radical: 女 (woman), shared by 156 characters on this site.
How to remember 婿
婿 combines 女 (woman) on the left with 胥 (xū) on the right, which gives the sound. Think of the man who joins the family through a woman, the daughter, and you have the son-in-law.
婿 almost never appears alone in modern Chinese. It lives inside words like 女婿 (nǚxu, son-in-law) and 夫婿 (fūxù, husband, a literary word). Example: 她的女婿是医生。(Tā de nǚxu shì yīshēng.) Her son-in-law is a doctor.
Common mistake: Learners often write the right side as 胥 with the wrong top, or confuse 婿 with 媳 (xí), as in 媳妇 (xífù, daughter-in-law or wife). Remember that 婿 is the man who marries in and 媳 is the woman who marries in.
Common words with 婿
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| 女婿 | nǚxu | daughter's husband; son-in-law | HSK 7-9 |
Questions about 婿
How many strokes are in 婿?
婿 is written with 12 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 婿 mean?
婿 (xù) means son-in-law; husband. A common word with it is 女婿 (nǚxu), meaning "daughter's husband; son-in-law".
How do you pronounce 婿?
婿 is pronounced xù, in the fourth tone (falling).
What is the radical of 婿?
The radical of 婿 is 女, which carries the idea of "woman". Dictionaries list 婿 under this radical.
What is the traditional form of 婿?
The traditional form of 婿 is 壻. Traditional characters are used in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau; 婿 is the simplified form used in mainland China and Singapore.
Is 婿 on the HSK exam?
Yes. 婿 is part of the HSK 7-9 character list in the HSK 3.0 standard.
Why is 女婿 pronounced nǚxu and not nǚxù?
In everyday speech the second syllable of 女婿 is usually read in the neutral tone, so it sounds like nǚxu. When 婿 is read on its own or in words like 夫婿, it keeps its fourth tone, xù.
Can 女婿 mean husband?
In some northern dialects people do use 女婿 to mean a woman's husband. In standard Mandarin it normally means son-in-law, and 丈夫 (zhàngfu) or 老公 (lǎogōng) are the usual words for husband.